Match 15 of the 2025 Indian Premier League season brings us a match-up between the Kolkata Knight Riders and the SunRisers Hyderabad at Eden Gardens on April 3.
For the game, here are our preview and predictions.
Indian Premier League 2025 | Match 15: Kolkata Knight Riders vs SunRisers Hyderabad | 19:30 IST, April 3
The Knight Riders and the SunRisers meet each other for the first time after last year’s final, which KKR won to clinch their third IPL title.
In their last encounter, KKR played the Mumbai Indians away and, batting first, lost both their openers by the second over. They were soon reeling at 45/5 after the Powerplay, with none their players managing to get going, and were ultimately bowled out for a paltry 116 with almost four overs to spare. Angkrish Raghuvanshi (26 off 16) finished as their top scorer, with debutant MI pacer Ashwani Kumar bowling superbly and ending up with figures of 4/24 in three overs.
In response, MI chased down the total in 12.5 overs at the cost of two wickets, with Ryan Rickelton (62* off 41) and Suryakumar Yadav (27 off 9) making sure the five-time IPL champions got their first win of the season with ease.
On the other hand, the SunRisers will be out for not just revenge but also some winning momentum after two straight defeats. In their last encounter, playing at home against the Delhi Capitals, SRH decided to bat first after winning the toss. They lost four wickets in the Powerplay, but thanks to youngster Aniket Verma (74 off 41) the runs kept flowing. However, Verma ran out of partners after Heinrich Klaasen (32 off 19) departed. In the end, SRH could only manage a total of 163 and were bowled out in 18.4 overs. For DC, pace spearhead Mitchell Starc did the early damage and ended up with figures of 5/35, with spinner Kuldeep Yadav registering figures of 3/22 from his quota of four overs.
In response, the Capitals openers stitched together a strong partnership, scoring 81 runs in nine overs before both Faf du Plessis (50 off 27) and Jake Fraser-McGurk (38 off 32) got out in the same over. However, Abhishek Porel (34 off 18) and Tristan Stubbs (21 off 14) guided DC home comfortably with four overs to spare.
The SunRisers’ “my way or highway” approach has cost them in the last two matches, with all their batters looking to just come in and get going with their shots rather than taking some time to figure out the pitch as well as the opposition bowlers. The Knight Riders have a decent bowling attack, but the Eden Gardens pitch has been a batting haven since last year and could end up favouring the SunRisers’ batters. If SRH get to bat first, it will be difficult for KKR to get a win.
Fantasy XI: Travis Head, Quinton de Kock (wk), Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Aniket Verma, Andre Russell, Heinrich Klaasen, Pat Cummins (c), Varun Chakaravarthy, Harshit Rana
Venue: Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Winners Prediction: SunRisers Hyderabad
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